The Soul selects her own society by Logan Uong (Student FVHS)

lqdo100_ — 2024-02-16 19:58:41 UTC

lqdo100_ — 2024-02-16 20:00:05 UTC

4. What figures of speech are used? How do they contribute to the tone and meaning of the poem?

lhuong100_ — 2024-02-16 20:03:23 UTC

Dickinson implements a core metaphor throughout the poem, which paints a picture of a large stone door and an emperor that kneels outside of it. This metaphor brilliantly portrays her reclusive lifestyle, and her direct values. This is supported in the text, when Dickinson states "I've known her-from an ample nation- choose one-Then-close the Valves of her attention/ Like stone-". Using a metaphor, and turning to a simile, this stanza portrays how adamant she is about focusing on one value and closing out all of the others. Like a stone wall, she closes all interest in this individual; the comparison shows that these beliefs are strong, and will never be changed, like the characteristics of stone. This metaphor and simile help drive the message of the story.

3. What images does the poet use? How do the images relate to one another? Do these images form a unified pattern (motif) throughout the poem?

lqdo100_ — 2024-02-16 20:11:30 UTC

Throughout the poem "The Soul selects her own Society", author Emily Dickinson depicts a unique picture in the minds of readers. There are many different images throughout the poem such as the soul, a door shutting out society, an Emperor, and stone. She uses the image of a soul to be a person, with the doors as a symbol representing her reclusiveness and the Emperor upon her mat as an image of a person with love that could not sway her. She then uses an image of stone to furthermore support the idea of not being swayed and standing strong with her decision to close the doors and shut people out. This can be seen in the line, "The Soul selects her own Society - Then - shuts the Door-". Here she makes use of the soul image and the door image to help emphasize how she cut people off. Also, in the lines, "Unmoved - she notes the Chariots - pausing - At her low Gate - Unmoved - an Emperor be kneeling Upon her Mat-". She uses the chariots and an Emperor to show that not even love or the support of people can make her choose them, and that she chooses who she wants to be with or around.

7. How important is the role of sound effects, such as rhyme and rhythm? How do they affect tone and meaning?

lqdo100_ — 2024-02-16 20:13:27 UTC

Author Emily Dickinson makes use of many different slant rhymes throughout all of her poems. This can be truly seen in the poem, "The Soul selects her own Society", where she employs the use of slant rhymes in each stanza while using only one normal rhyme. In the first stanza there is immediately a slant rhyme and a normal rhyme being, "The Soul selects her own Society - Then - shuts the Door - To her divine Majority - Present no more-". Here, we can see that the words Society and Majority end in the same sound, yet do not rhyme, and that the words Door and More truly rhyme. This puts emphasis on how she disregards the people that she does not like or get a long with but the door is going to never be seen open again, showing her reclusive personality. This also dives deeper into the fact that since all the words with slant rhymes do not truly rhyme, that Emily Dickinson never truly fit in with society due to her love interest yet still was able to fit in to a certain degree with all of her poems.

6. What is the theme (the central idea) of this poem? Can you state it in a single sentence? Elaborate on your idea.

lhuong100_ — 2024-02-16 20:23:40 UTC

The theme of this poem goes as follows: The human soul freely focuses on one value and shuts down all other values. This is shown throughout the poem, as "the Soul selects her own Society-Then-shuts the Door-to her divine Majority-Present no more-". This stanza shows that the soul is free, and is different from the rest of the world. She is free to choose the values that she desires, and reject the ones that she refuses to accept. This can refer to romantic partners, or other values such as religion. This theme continues through the poem, when the speaker ultimately rejects the Emperor, and closes her stone gate. Although the Emperor is of high status and recognition, the soul still refuses to accept his company. This relates to the theme; the soul can choose to accept or shut down values that come its way, and in this case, the Emperor is worth shutting down. The soul is in control of its lifestyle, and it is natural to keep things out of its life. For this aspect, the main theme of the poem is freedom and the declination of values.

Biography Connection

lqdo100_ — 2024-02-16 20:24:23 UTC

Poem author Emily Dickinson was a famous poet who was known for being a recluse, meaning that she didn't talk to anyone and avoided contact with other people. This can be seen in her poem, "The Soul selects her own Society" where it talks about a soul that shuts the door on people, even turning down love, to be alone with the few people that she wanted to be with. Dickinson was a recluse for most of her life, and rejected many values of the public, such as religion, and sexual orientation. Because of these controversial opinions, Dickinson kept these values to herself. This is illustrated in this poem, as she rejects the ideas of the emperor in the same way that she rejects the ideas of her society.